Archive for November, 2009

Olivia!

Lately, Olivia’s test driving two with tantrums, talking back and actions that are pretty far outside her normal realm.

For instance, bedtime has become a bit of battle. Normally, I read a book, sing a couple of songs, rock for a bit, then put her down without so much as a whimper.

She’s clearly to an age where she realizes there’s more exciting things going on downstairs come 8 pm. The past week or two, Olivia stands up before she even hits the mattress and launches babies or books (or pacifiers) at my head as I close the door. She has an amazing aim, but that’s another post.

Most nights, though, she settles down once I place all of her accouterments back in her crib.

Last night, I heard her laughing and calling for me. I opened her door and found her wearing only a grin.

She was stark naked in her crib—her pajamas and diaper tossed out on to the floor—and she was quite pleased with herself.

She said, “I need a diaper change.”

Apparently.

First snowfall of the season

Snow

When I posted this photo a few minutes ago, I hadn’t yet checked the forecast. I thought this was fleeting, but it sounds like we may end up with two to six inches of snow today! The nice thing about Kansas is that it will likely be gone tomorrow.

Huskers at heart

Bryan managed to snag us six tickets for the KU/Husker game yesterday. Doug and Karyl came down to join us, and we took the girls as well. (For the first half, anyway.) Later in the evening, Doug got these great shots of the girls in their Husker gear.

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Ava at work

Ava’s recent art project resulted in a festive fall wreath!

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Olivia Fix

I think we are approaching the terrible twos…

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I long for the days when I thought that stage had to be the most challenging.

More Iowa excitement

After treating us to a fabulous breakfast on Sunday morning, Josh and Laura took us downtown for shopping, coffee and time on the playground. It was hard to leave, but we know the next time we see them, they’ll have two brand new babies!

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Iowa Children’s Museum

We had a short but sweet visit to Josh and Laura’s house this weekend. The trip included a few fun hours at the Iowa Children’s Museum in Coralville. I’ll post more photos from our trip later this week, but in the meantime, here’s a little slideshow.

Caption this

Olivia

Best caption in the comments section wins a call from Olivia! Her average call length is about 3.5 hours, so clear your calendar now.

More S’mores

Doug recently sent me a link to a gorgeous slide show of America’s best cupcakes on Forbes Traveler. One in particular caught my eye–a S’mores cupcake.

I checked out a number of recipe sources, including a few Martha Stewart recipes that seemed quite complicated. Since I was making these as part of our party last week, I decided to simplify by using the recipe for one-bowl chocolate cupcakes. Once I had the cupcake batter parceled out, I sprinkled each cup with ground graham crackers.

After baking the cupcakes, I topped them with an ethereal marshmallow frosting and toasted the tops with a pastry torch.

This may be my new favorite cupcake!

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Sunny days

There’s an interesting article about the changes down on Sesame Street on CNN.com this morning. I was going to post snippets of the text, but really, the article is short and completely worth the read, especially if you were born before 1984.

Check it out here. I’d love to hear your thoughts!